


Sacred Ground

by SolStudio



Series: Nowhere to Run [3]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: (but not really), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Demon Shane Madej, Developing Friendships, Enemies to Friends, Fluff, Gen, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-31 08:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21130148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolStudio/pseuds/SolStudio
Summary: Ryan is trying to cope with the fact that he may actually be starting to view a demon as his friend. It goes against everything he believes in to befriend a demon, and yet he’s doing it anyways. At the same time, Shane just wants to figure out how to tell Ryan the truth, that he’s really not a demon at all, while not ruining all the progress he’s made in getting Ryan to finally trust him.





	Sacred Ground

Pinning up the flyer to the bulletin board, Ryan pushed the final tack through the bottom left corner to ensure it was securely attached to the wall. He took a step back to admire his work, putting his hand not currently full of flyers on his hip in a proud stance. It was pretty good work, if he did say so himself. The film club was hosting a bake sale this weekend, and he’d volunteered to both design the posters for the event and hang them up around campus. 

He’d chosen the big bulletin board outside the main dining hall as the location to hang up the very first flyer, and he was glad to see that the poster stood out just as he’d intended when designing it late last night and into the early hours of the morning. Almost every club used the board to advertise their events so it was a common place for students with extra time to stop by and see what was going on around campus.

The film club desperately needed to fundraise some money in order to pay for their latest project, and Ryan was sure that they’d get some traction at the bake sale with how good the first flyer looked hanging up on the wall. Not to mention, inexpensive baked goods within walking distance of the majority of dorms and apartments? What kind of tired college student would be able to resist that?

_ Now just 50 more to go. _ He brought the heel of his hand to rub at his eye in frustration, as reality sunk back in. Why he had offered to use some of his only free time to wander around campus, hanging up posters for the club was a mystery that only the Ryan of last week knew the answer to. Not only did he have classes and homework to take care of, but he was also working part time at the library, and he hadn’t uploaded anything new to his YouTube channel since his fateful meeting with Shane two months ago. All his subscribers were probably wondering what happened to him, but it wasn’t like you had much motivation to go out ghost hunting when you saw a demon basically everyday. Honestly, Ryan could do with a little less of the occult right now.

“Hey Ry!” Hearing the familiar voice call out behind him, Ryan let out a weary sigh, juggling around the papers in his arms as to more comfortably hold them while turning to face the source of the noise.

_ Speak of the devil. _Ryan snickered silently to himself at his own pun before returning the greeting.

“Hey man. How’s it going?” 

“Pretty good! I have a test on Friday for my Oral History class that might just kill me, but I’m toughing it out for now. What’s up with the all the brochures?” Shane reached out, blindly grabbing one of the papers of the top of the stack Ryan was holding.

“Hey!” Ryan swiped out a hand in a knee-jerk attempt to regain the stolen sheet of paper, missing just barely and almost dropping the stack still in his other hand. Drawing his hand back in a hasty attempt to save the rest of the pile, he was able to grab hold of the falling papers and stop them from toppling over and ending up a mess all over the floor.

“First of all, they’re flyers, not brochures. Second,” Ryan held out his hand in a silent demand for Shane to hand the flyer back over, which Shane did, sulking. “You shouldn’t just grab things out of people’s hands, man.” He wasn’t sure as to why he was reprimanding Shane. It might have been out of frustration at Shane’s lack of manners, but it also might have been out of genuine concern that someone would realize Shane didn’t belong from his strange behavior and try to hurt him somehow.

After all, weekly movie nights had become a bit of a thing since a few weeks ago when he had soft of poisoned Shane with holy water. He wasn’t quite sure how to feel that he actually was beginning to enjoy Shane’s company. He also wasn’t exactly eager to examine the morals behind being tentative “friends” with a demon.

Shane suddenly lit up, as if remembering something important. “Oh yeah! Speaking of stealing things out of other people’s hands, I got that new horror game! You know, the one where you can play with friends and pass the controller around? Instead of watching a movie like we usually do, I thought we could switch it up and try out the game!”

If there was one thing Ryan had learned about the demon since their first meeting a month ago, it was that he had a rather stereotypical love for all things horror and a rather atypical love for video games. At least, he supposed it was atypical for a demon. It wasn’t like he had any experience dealing with demons other than Shane, and he had a feeling Shane was pretty atypical for a demon to begin with.

Either way, he could tell Shane was super excited to try out the game with him, and he almost felt bad knowing that he’d have to decline Shane’s offer.

“Yeah, about that... I know Friday nights have been reserved for watching movies the past couple of weeks, but I think I’m gonna have to skip this one.” Ryan pointed to the flyer still up on the wall. “The film club is doing some last-minute, emergency fundraising in order to make sure the club has enough money to fund our latest project. The bake sale starts early Saturday morning so a late night on Friday wouldn’t be the best idea for me right now, especially since I’m basically running on pure caffeine and adrenaline right now from staying up all night designing these things.” 

“All night? Did you get any sleep at all?” Shane appeared visibly concerned.

“One hour.” Ryan deadpanned. 

Shane gave a wince of sympathy. “Yikes. I’ve been there. The only solution? Chug a bunch of caffeinated drinks, and don’t think about how tired you are!” 

Ryan let out a wheeze of laughter. “That sounds like terribly unhealthy advice.” 

Shane shrugged with a smile. “What can you do? I don’t have any advice other than that. Caffeine is the only solution I’ve got.” He glanced both ways before leaning in conspiratorially, as if about to share a secret. Ryan unconsciously leaned closer to mirror the change. “After all, sleep deprivation isn’t much of a problem in Hell.” 

Shane straightened back up to his full height, acting as if he hadn’t just blown Ryan’s mind by giving him inside knowledge to the workings of Hell. 

It took Ryan a second to process Shane’s words before shaking himself out of his shock. You think he’d get used to Shane’s blasé attitude toward the supernatural, but Shane made it way too easy to forget just what he was dealing with. Realizing Shane was waiting for a response, he pulled himself from the onslaught of thoughts suddenly plaguing him, and instead offered up a smug grin.

“Not used to it, huh?” 

Shane only gave a slight shrug and a smile, looking a bit at a loss as to how to continue the conversation. Ryan got the feeling he probably didn’t want to talk too much about Hell to a human and swiftly changed the subject.

“I might not be able to make it this Friday, but if you wanna come support the film club, feel free to stop by and buy something on Saturday!”

Shane brightened. “Sounds fun! Have to support the school’s clubs and all that.” He took his cell phone out and snapped a photo of the flyer so he’d have the address and details for later.

The first time Ryan had seen Shane’s phone, he’d been shocked. Who knew that demons could work modern technology as well as any other millennial? And at this point, Ryan had stopped questioning where he got all of his appliances and accessories. However Shane was acquiring them, Ryan was pretty sure he’d be better off not knowing.

“Why were you over here anyways?” 

“I came to get lunch before my next class.” Shane glanced down toward his watch. “Actually, I should probably go do that now since class starts in 30. I’ll see you tomorrow at the bake sale, then?” 

“Yeah, I’ll see you then, man.” Ryan gave a short wave, watching the demon walk away and through the doors to the dining hall. He turned back to the bulletin board, groaning when, with the distraction of Shane gone, he once again remembered all the work he still had to finish.

It wasn’t until late that night, well after he’d hung up all the posters that he realized his mistake. The flyers all said that the bake sale was being held right next to campus, and that was true, but what each of them neglected to mention was that the address it had listed, and therefore the location of the bake sale, was in fact, the local church. 

_ Oh no. _What had he done?

* * *

Shane glanced down from the table where Sara was currently making an attack roll with her d20 to his phone that had begun vibrating in his pocket. Pulling the phone out, a quick glance at the screen revealed that Ryan was the culprit calling him in the middle of D&D. 

Just as he was about to step out and take the call, he was stopped by Sara finishing her attack. “Shane! It’s your turn!” The phrase was punctuated with a swift jab to his side. 

He hesitated for a moment. Ryan almost never called him. In fact, Shane could count the amount of times they’d talked over the phone on one hand, and they’d all been brief. It could be something important. On the other hand though, what important news would Ryan even have to share with him? As much as Shane had been trying to befriend him, Ryan still had obvious reservations. 

Even though they’d been getting along as of late, Ryan clearly was still worried about the whole ‘demon’ thing that Shane had, admittedly, been playing into. While it was incredibly amusing that Ryan still thought he was a demon after knowing each for a couple of months now, the closer he got to Ryan, the worse he felt every time he brought it up. He still loved making the jokes, but Ryan’s reactions always offered an instant reminder as to how serious all of this was for him.

After all, Ryan really did believe in this stuff and thought everything Shane had told him about his nature was true. Shane felt like a bit of a hypocrite, to be honest. He kept getting disheartened whenever Ryan seemed wary to trust him, but at the same time, he was lying to the guy every day. At this point, he wasn’t even sure how to tell Ryan the truth, and he had chosen instead to just keep playing along. If Ryan found out this had all been a lie on Shane’s part, there was a good chance all the progress Shane had made in befriending him would be undone instantly. 

If it meant he’d stay Ryan’s friend, he’d keep up the act, keep playing the role of the demon, no matter how guilty it had begun to make him feel.

Another call for his attention snapped him out of his reverie and back into the present. Shane silenced his phone and put it back in his pocket. He’d see Ryan at the bake sale tomorrow. He was sure it could at least wait until then.

* * *

Ryan was pacing behind one of the tables nervously and had been doing so for the past 20 minutes. One of the freshmen in the club was side-eyeing him, as if they were nervous he’d have a full on breakdown, and at this rate he was pretty sure that wasn’t looking too unlikely.

When he’d failed to get a hold of Shane last night, he’d thought that he’d be fine calling him in the morning to warn him. Turns out, it was a lot harder to warn Shane than he thought. He’d called Shane at least 10 times this morning and each and every one of them had gone to voicemail. 

He’d been too nervous to text Shane about it, worried what someone might think if they accidentally saw Shane’s screen with 20 notifications on it telling him not to show up to a bake sale because the location it was being held at happened to be a church. The whole point was to protect Shane and prevent his exposure, not facilitate it.

Now, the bake sale had started just over 10 minutes ago, and he couldn’t sit still. He was constantly looking out through the propped open door for any sight of the demon. Hopefully, he’d just decided to sleep in, and not come to the fundraiser after all. 

A deliberate cough brought his attention away from both the door and his pacing to a student standing with one of the cupcakes in his hands. He handed over a $5 bill and stood silently, waiting for Ryan to give him back his change. Ryan forced himself to smile and thank the man as he gave him back $3 from the cash box.

As soon as the student had walked away from the table, and the transaction was complete, he went back to watching the doorway, sighing in relief when he didn’t immediately spot Shane outside. Grateful that the demon had yet to show up, he glanced down briefly to make sure the money box was closed properly after using it.

“Wow! These look delicious!” 

Ryan’s head shot up, his eyes locking onto Shane’s, who was holding a no-bake cookie in his hand.

“Whoops, sorry didn’t mean to surprise you! I came in while you were helping out that guy who just left. How much are the cookies?” He continued smiling, seemingly unaware of the panic shooting through Ryan’s body.

Ryan’s heart threatened to stop in his chest, and he quickly grabbed a hold of Shane’s arm and dragged him toward the exit, much to the protest of the taller man.

“Hey! Ryan slow down! What are you doing? I haven’t even paid yet!” Shane attempted to yank his hand free of Ryan’s grip to no avail. “Can’t you just stop and explain for two seconds?”

Only once they were out the door and a good ways into the parking lot did Ryan stop, turning around to face Shane. He continued to hold tightly onto Shane’s wrist, as if worried that the moment he let go, Shane would make an attempt to bolt back into the building.

For a few moments there was a tense silence, in which neither seemed to know what to say. The moment was finally shattered by Ryan, who began searching over Shane for visible injuries of any kind.

“Are you okay?!” He sounded haried, lifting up one of Shane’s arms to check the underside as well.

“Uh.. yeah? I’m totally fine. What’s up, man?” Shane let himself be moved around like a rag doll, not sure what was going through Ryan’s head, but understanding enough that he knew complying with whatever Ryan was doing right now would help the man to calm down faster.

Ryan let go of Shane, looking up at him, puzzled. “But.. you? The bake sale… it’s?” Ryan trailed off, eyebrows knitted in a mix of worry and confusion. 

“Is this about how I’ve been ignoring your calls?” Shane brought a hand up to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly. “Last night when you called I was busy hanging out with friends, and when you were calling this morning I had already left my apartment so I thought I’d just show up and surprise you. Looking back on it, it might not have been the best idea to ignore your calls all morning. I just didn’t think you’d have anything too important to tell _ me, _of all people. I’m sure you’d have better, more normal, people for that.” He gave a self-deprecating grin.

Shane’s comments simply seemed to bolster Ryan’s courage. “The bake sale! It’s in a church!” He gestured dramatically with his hand in the direction of the building they just left. “I’ve been trying to warn you all morning!”

Shane looked over to the building as if to confirm that it was, in fact, a church. “This? The church is what you were so worried about?” Shane’s face morphed into a soft smile. “You were worried I’d get hurt by coming here.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah, of course. It’s a church. You’re a demon. I thought something terrible would happen to you if you came here.” The sincerity was clear in Ryan’s tone.

“Well, I’m alright. No need to worry. A powerful being like me? Defeated by walking into a church? I don’t think so, baby!” He threw his arm around Ryan’s shoulders. “Now, I think I dropped that no-bake cookie when you oh-so-dramatically dragged me out here, so how ‘bout we go back in there, get me some new baked goods, and I’ll pay for them and the one that probably ended up on the ground somewhere.”

Ryan snorted, but allowed Shane to start guiding them back to the building. “It was _ not _dramatic.”

“Oh, it was incredibly dramatic. No ceremony to it at all, really.”

Ryan jokingly gave Shane a shove, forcing him to let go of Ryan and stagger to the side. He grabbed his arm and mimed pain. 

“I can’t believe you’ve wounded me this way. This whole morning you were worried the church was a threat, but you’ve been the true danger all along!”

Ryan laughed at Shane’s theatrics. Demon or not, he really was a good guy. “You’re a shitty demon, you know that, right?”

Shane only smiled wider. “Yup. The absolute worst!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! Hope you enjoyed part 3! For those who are wondering, it’s looking like there’ll probably be two more parts to this series before it’s complete. Other than those two parts, I have a lot in the works! While I’ve been writing this series, I’ve also been working on a oneshot that’s nearly complete, and I have the beginnings of my next series all planned out. The next series will be by chapter instead of by part so I’m going to try and have a few chapters written out before uploading anything so I can try to have more regular updates. Thanks for reading and have a great day! :)
> 
> (Oh also you can find me on tumblr [here!](https://solstudio.tumblr.com/))


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